going on the radio today(also have to compare I:NER to I for Dummies,
and review chapter 1 of I for BP). Mystic Theatre not on BASS,
need to call (web site not
helpful) to get tickets to Zero this Saturday?

bringing copy of
coffeehouse to station
to cheat. i should review things to mention: coffeehousebook.com,
ezone.org (Pavic),
No Bird, Girl Birth Water Death,
the Birdhouse, telling live, Cortazar.

early for my taping. remembered on the
way over: clock went forward sunday morning. everyone at rich &
martha's groused. funny conspiracy theory about the gov't taking
hour in april, returning it in (september?) to survivors.

wouldn't have bothered the receptionist
out front (1:50 - 2:30, more than "a few minutes" early, as suggested)
but just wanted to use the bathroom. weird commercial radio playing in
reception area, coupled with stilted artsy videos showing on a screen
behind her head. I should have stopped into a diner, got some tea or water,
taken a leak at my leisure, not having to wait, out of politeness, as I
do now.

The other in-studio guest for this Beyond
Computers taping also drove over from the East Bay, Judy Malloy. We
introduce ourselves and talk about our work. She told me she's currently
working on The
Roar of Destiny Emanated from the Refrigerator I Got Up to Get a Beer,
and has also written Uncle Roger (also on the web), and Its
Name Was Penelope, available commercially through
Eastgate, where her piece L0ve0ne
can also be found (so that's where I knew her me from!).

The third
guest turned out to be Kathryn Hale, a professor at UCLA, and recent
author of Chaos Bound: Orderly Disorder {...here I lost track of the
subtitle...} Hypertech. She brought a nice rigor to the show, at one
point defining hyperfiction as having "manifold narrative possibilities."
When she cited Pavic's Dictionary of the
Khazars as a distinguished example of non-electronic hyperfiction, I
was able to make mention of the fact that Dr. Pavic recently offered to
let us publish the first English translation of his web-based "story for
computer," Damaskin, perhaps prematurely, as we have not
done the translation yet, but I was eager to make the connection. I also
managed to bring up Martha's seminal hyperstory (Girl Birth Water Death)
and to mention Cortazar's Hopscotch another favorite print
hypertext of mine.

The host, Maureen Taylor, asked good
questions and afterward told us we'd done a good job and she now understood
a lot of these concepts better (and that their listeners would benefit as
well). They're sending me the tape of the episode (with our 20-minute taping
reduced to a 12- or fewer-minute segment) and a listing of stations and air
dates two weeks from today. When we were done, I mentioned to Taylor that
she had appeared once (perhaps not by name) here in this journal, when
I had groused about my secret nemesis (Steven Johnson of Feed Magazine
fame) appearing on her show. She said "Well, now you've been on the radio"
and I felt it would sound petty if I'd said, "I've already been, on KPFA
thank you very much."

They also asked me if I'd be interested in contributing
occasional two-minute commentaries or stories to their show (would I? would I?).
On the way out, Judy and I spoke some more and agreed that meeting each other
had been ample compensation for appearing on the show.